All smiles as Oakland County rose at the expense of Detroit
L. Brooks Patterson, never one for keeping his own counsel, let loose this week on two issues, one close to his heart: Monkeying with Michigan's no-fault auto insurance program.
L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland County executive
Lame-duck Republicans in the Michigan House are trying to lower insurance costs by reviving a plan that died earlier in the session, which would allow drivers to choose levels of medical coverage and end the mandatory-lifetime-benefits clause of the law.
Detroit billionaire Dan Gilbert backs the plan, and has promised to fund a 2020 ballot initiative to get it before voters, who would presumably opt for any plan that lowered their tops-in-the-nation costs. This prompted Patterson to fire both barrels, reports Jonathan Oosting in The News:
“He’s going to have all the insurance he wants, okay, because he’s a billionaire,” Patterson said of Gilbert, the Quicken Loans founder. “He’ll never have to be warehoused in a Medicaid facility. So for him to take this opportunity away from the middle class is, I think, an act of arrogance.”
Patterson was seriously injured in a 2012 auto accident, and his driver was left a quadriplegic. While Patterson has always backed mandatory lifetime benefits for those so injured, the accident galvanized his support.
But that's not the only opinion the Oakland County executive aired this week. He also condemned a move by Lansing Republicans to put further restrictions on the ballot initiative process, which would make it far more difficult for grassroots and other groups to put initiated legislation and constitutional amendments on the statewide ballot. A separate story, also by Oosting, lays out his objections:
“First of all, it violates the Michigan Constitution, which gives us that right in the first place,” Patterson told The Detroit News. “The rules are already sufficiently tough and the hurdles are sufficiently high. We don’t have to go back and make it almost impossible (for citizens) to petition the government.”
The Senate Elections Committee advanced the measure Wednesday in a 4-1 vote, but with the lame-duck session expected to end Thursday, leading Republicans on the panel said additional changes are likely before any action on the floor.
Patterson's clout is somewhat diminished today, but he still commands attention. It probably helps that he speaks his mind without qualification.
